The Savannah Sand Gnats weathered the storm to defeat the Greenville Drive 8-6 on Sunday.

After a Yoan Moncada sacrifice fly allowed the Drive (5-6, 43-38) to tie the game at six in the bottom of the eighth, the Sand Gnats countered with a pair of runs in the ninth off Ryan Harris (0-2). Patrick Biondi began the frame with a double and later scored on John Mora’s sacrifice fly, and Eudor Garcia smashed a solo homer to add an insurance run.

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The Drive jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Savannah starter Ricky Knapp in the bottom of the first. Moncada and Hudson singled to start the inning, and a groundout by Rafael Devers plated the first run. An RBI single by Nick Longhi made the score 2-0, and Francisco Tellez smacked an RBI double to deep center for the third run.

Savannah stormed back in the second with four runs off Jeffry Fernandez. JC Rodriguez’s RBI single put the Sand Gnats on the board, and Vicente Lupo quickly put Savannah out in front with a monstrous three-run homer off the condos in left-center field.

Moncada’s RBI double tied the game up at four in the bottom of the second, but RBI doubles by Michael Katz and Tyler Moore in the third and fourth added additional runs to Savannah’s total and pushed the score to 6-4.

Joseph Monge paced the Drive’s 15-hit attack by going 4-4 at the plate with two runs and an RBI, and Moncada had a pair of hits and a pair of RBI. Hudson, Longhi, Javier Guerra and David Sopilka added two hits apiece. Garcia and Jon Leroux had two hits each for Savannah.

Tim Peterson (1-0) got the win for Savannah after working the eighth, and Jimmy Duff collected his ninth save, and his second in as many days.

Game three of the four-game series begins Monday at 7:05 p.m. Reed Reilly (4-3, 3.63) will toe the Fluor Field rubber for the Drive, and the Sand Gnats will start Casey Delgado (3-2, 3.08).

The Lexington Legends used a five-run first inning en route to a 7-2 victory over the Asheville Tourists.